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Facebook and Microsoft have teamed up to build a new submarine megacable that will link the USA to Spain with a superfast connection.

The underwater cable will stretch 6,600km between Virginia Beach on the US east coast to Bilbao in northern Spain.

The new cable, which will be no wider than a domestic hosepipe, will be able to handle record amounts of data, at over 160 terrabytes per second it will be 16 million times faster than a domestic broadband connection.

Source: Microsoft

The mega fast bandwidth will allow Facebook to pursue its goal of encouraging users to provide live video and meet in virtual reality.

The construction project named Marea - tide in Spanish - will be managed by an infrastructure-focused subsidiary of Spanish telecom provider Telefónica.